This study examined the common characteristics of the leadership team, the main practices followed by the leadership team, and the leadership styles that are mostly followed by leaders in an outstanding school. It is partly a systematic review of works related to school leadership and leadership practices. Besides, it includes a field investigation of leadership traits in the selected schools. The qualitative approach was used and semi-structured interviews were developed based on the study’s purpose and objectives and drawing on the literature review. The findings revealed that the most important characteristics of leadership in outstanding schools are represented in inspirational shared vision, commitment, dedication, loyalty, spirituality, and care. Besides, the most common practices followed by the leadership team are represented in developing people, focus on student achievement and well-being, and redesigning the organization.  Significantly, the findings reflect that the leaders adopt a highly distributed leadership style that is mixed and supported by both instructional and transformational leadership styles.

Research Question: The study aims to explore the following key areas within an outstanding educational institution:

1- What are the common characteristics of the leadership team in an outstanding school?2- What are the main practices followed by the leadership team in an outstanding school?3- What leadership styles are mostly followed by leaders in an outstanding school

The study is grounded in the leadership literature, drawing from several theoretical perspectives: Leadership, School Leadership, and Leadership Styles.

The study focuses on three main leadership styles as outlined in the literature:

Transformational Leadership, Distributed Leadership, and Instructional Leadership

Draws on research and theories to identify common characteristics and practices of successful leaders

The study employs a qualitative approach, utilizing semi-structured interviews to gather data from school leaders. The theoretical framework is applied to analyze the data and interpret the findings in the context of outstanding school leadership.

The analysis of the interviews conducted at the outstanding school in the current research reflected that the most common characteristics of the leadership in outstanding schools are represented in the inspirational shared vision. In this respect, all interviewed leaders had a very clear ambitious, and dynamic vision that is led by the founder of the school. Moreover, they adopted the principles of commitment, dedication, loyalty, spirituality, and care. Significantly, the practices followed by the leadership team included developing people, as all interviewed school leaders talked about how they started their journey as junior teachers. They were trained, mentored closely, and grew professionally inside the campus until they were equipped with the skills and knowledge to hold the leadership positions they were at. They also focus on students’ achievement and wellbeing, and support teachers’ motivation and commitment, through building collaborative cultures and productive relationships with parents and the community. Apart from this, the leads practices and their views reflected that they adopt a highly distributed leadership style that is mixed and supported with both instructional and transformational leadership styles. Being a case study, the sample size was limited. Therefore, it is recommended that future research should apply the mixed method to take the view of a larger sample. Besides, as the current study focused mainly on three aspects related to characteristics, practices, and leadership styles, future research could include other factors or tackle one of the factors in more depth.

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